


Live Like You Were Dying

by SimbaDarling



Category: Glee
Genre: Bucket List, Cancer, M/M, Road Trips, ooc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-28
Updated: 2013-06-09
Packaged: 2017-12-13 06:22:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/821054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimbaDarling/pseuds/SimbaDarling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt decides to take a cross country trip instead of getting treatment when he's diagnosed with cancer and his first stop is his cheating ex-boyfriend's house to offer forgiveness. He wasn't expecting Blaine to be married to Sebastian Smythe or for Blaine to insist on going around the country with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Kurt Hummel had no idea what he was doing standing outside his high school boyfriend’s house ten years after he graduated college, thirteen years since he broke up with the cheater. He had no obligation to tell his ex the news he was recently delivered. Just as he was turning around to leave, the door opened and his breath was stolen away. Blaine had stopped plastering his hair to his head with gel at some point and his hair was a fluffy halo of tight curls. His hazel eyes were so much more intense than Kurt remembered them.   
“What are you doing here, Kurt?” Blaine asked, glancing back into his house before stepping onto the porch with Kurt and closing the door. Kurt took in Blaine’s bare feet and lack of bow tie before glancing back up at Blaine’s face. His lips were moving and Kurt only realized Blaine was still talking. “How did you even find my address? It’s been years since we’ve even seen each other. You made your opinions quite clear last time. So, why are you here?”  
“Dad-“ Kurt stuttered out before taking a deep breath in and shaking his head to clear it. “My Dad died of cancer 15 months after his diagnosis-“  
“I know that Kurt. I was at the funeral. It was the last time I ever saw you, which was fine with me. _Why are you here_?” Blaine interrupted exasperated. He kept glancing back at the door behind him.   
“If you’d let me finish talking, I’d get there!” Kurt shrieked out. Blaine’s eyes widened as he faced the door, as if expecting Kurt’s loud, high tone to cause chaos to erupt. “I have to tell you something important Blaine! Can you just look at me for two seconds?”  
As soon as Kurt was finished talking, the front door was opened and Sebastian Smythe appeared. Kurt’s mouth dropped open as he glanced between the two. Sebastian put his arm around Blaine’s waist and pressed a kiss to his cheek, causing Blaine to visibly relax. The old rival turned to Kurt and cocked an eyebrow, but didn’t smirk as Kurt was expecting.  
“Is there any particular reason you yelled at my _husband_?” Sebastian questioned.  
“I- I just… I have cancer, okay? Thanks. Bye,” Kurt hurriedly squeaked out before turning tail and rushing towards his car.  
“Kurt!” Blaine shouted after a quick exchange with Sebastian. “Do… Do you want to go grab some coffee and talk?”  
The glaze eyed man slowly turned to face the two men standing on the front porch and nodded almost imperceptibly. “Give me just a minute to go get some shoes on and we can go,” Blaine said, sliding back into the house.  
“That really blows Hummel. I hope you can beat it,” Sebastian called out before heading inside as well.  
Just a few minutes later, the door opened just enough for Blaine to slip out. He walked over to Kurt and grabbed his hand, pulling Kurt the rest of the way to his car. “Is it okay if I just ride with you?” Blaine questioned, walking around to the passenger side after releasing Kurt’s hand. Kurt nodded again and unlocked the car, getting in. They drove in silence except for Blaine’s occasional direction after asking Kurt if he knew of any coffee shops around, getting only a small shake of his head in response.  
Once they parked in the lot, Kurt reached for the door handle to get out of his car, only to have Blaine’s hand stop his. Kurt looked over to Blaine, seeing him unbuckled and leaning over. Blaine stared into Kurt’s eyes, noting the haunted look before speaking.  
“He changed.” At Kurt’s blank look, Blaine continued. “Sebastian changed. I went to the Warbler graduation party, and when I started crying, Sebastian took me away from everyone and just held me all night. He’s nice and we fell in love. You weren’t around anymore. But, I don’t want you to be alone in this Kurt. Let me help you through this like I helped your dad. Let us be friends again.”  
Blaine’s eyes were shining with hope and sincerity. Kurt took a moment to gather his thoughts before speaking. “I came… I came here to tell you I forgive you for cheating all those years ago. I forgave you a long time ago.”  
“You came all the way to California to tell me you forgive me for that?” Blaine questioned.   
“When Dad was really sick, towards the end, he told me things he did, knowing his time was nearing an end. One of them was giving forgiveness he’d been denying. I’d been denying you forgiveness by not telling you I had forgiven you for that. That’s why I found out where you lived and drove all the way to California to see you one last time.”  
“Kurt, you’re talking like you’ve already given up. You talk like you aren’t even going to fight this,” Blaine started, stopping when Kurt didn’t deny it, when his facial features showed that Blaine was hitting the nail on the head. “ _Kurt_. You can’t just give up. This isn’t a death sentence. There are treatments. Think of what Burt would say if he knew you were going to just give up and not fight!”  
“Blaine, please. This is my choice. I’m not going to pump chemicals into my body and get so sick all I do is throw up when I’ll probably still die anyways.”  
“Don’t talk that way! What about your bucket list?”  
“That’s another reason I came out to Cali to talk to you. This is the start of me living out my bucket list. I’m traveling across America to cross things off the list. First thing, get coffee with Blaine one more time. I weeded out the unrealistic things, like making love to Taylor Lautner in a bed of lilacs before he gets fat. So, let’s go in and get our coffee.”   
The two boys made polite small talk over their old high school coffee orders, even though both preferred a different mix of caffeine now. They talked about the weather and crazy news stories, Kurt always changing the subject when Blaine asked about his diagnosis. Finally, the coffee cups were empty and the two boys were throwing everything away when Blaine spoke. “You said you were going across the country to cross things off your bucket list Let me go with you .You don’t need to do that alone.”  
“You’re married Blaine. I just came to tell you I forgave you. I don’t need a buddy for this trip,” Kurt protested.  
“Let’s go back to my place. You can drop me off. I’ll talk to Sebastian, you can stay in town tonight; I have a friend who can get you a hotel room for cheap and I’ll even pay. We’ll go out to dinner tonight, you, me, and Sebastian. We’ll figure out the specifics then. I’m not taking no for an answer. I’m not letting you be alone for this.”  
*****  
Once the two boys arrived back at Blaine and Sebastian’s house, Blaine told Kurt goodbye at the car, giving him directions to the hotel. Blaine let Kurt know that he would call his friend while Kurt was driving so his room would be paid for and waiting. Blaine spoke as Kurt started the car. “I’ll call your room when Sebastian is ready and we’ve decided where to meet.”   
Kurt drove to the hotel and upon walking into the lobby, was handed a room key followed by the desk worker saying “Have a nice time Mr. Hummel”. Kurt paused for a moment, wondering how the receptionist was so sure he was Mr. Hummel. Annoyance flitted through Kurt’s mind when the room phone rang within minutes of him shutting the door.  
“Hey Princess. It’s Sebastian. There’s a café two blocks from Blaine and my house we can eat at. You passed it on your way to the hotel. We’ll see you there in fifteen minutes tops.” And then the resounding ‘click’ sounded, signifying the end of the call. Kurt kept the phone to his ear for a minute before breathing very deeply and hanging up. After picking the phone back up and making sure it still worked after the heavy slam he just put it through, Kurt pocketed his cell phone and room key and then exited the hotel.


	2. Chapter 2

Kurt arrived at the restaurant calm but apprehensive. He knew Blaine said that Sebastian had changed, but Kurt would always see him as a sleazy, manipulative meerkat. He saw that Blaine and Sebastian were already seated on one side of a booth in the diner, looking to be deep in discussion. Blaine looked up and smiled when Kurt walked up to the table. Sebastian looked up a few moments later, shooting a quick smile at Kurt before looking back to Blaine like he was trying to convey a message.   
“Have a seat Kurt,” Blaine exclaimed, gesturing across the booth. Kurt noticed the smile forced at the edges and he refrained from sitting.   
“Look, Blaine, seriously, I told you I was going to do this alone and that’s fine. I don’t want to cause a problem-“  
“Kurt, that’s not what we’re arguing about, so don’t. It’s something else,” Sebastian interrupted, sounding exasperated. Aside from the initial statement of Kurt’s name, Sebastian had been looking at Blaine again. Glaring almost.   
“If the two of you are having problems, maybe Blaine shouldn-“  
“ _Shut up Kurt_ ” Sebastian shouted. “Please,” he tacked on after a pointed look from Blaine.  
“I’m going with you Kurt. End of story. It doesn’t matter if Sebastian is okay, although I would prefer if he was. I am going with my high school best friend across America to cross off his bucket list. And we’re going to have fun doing it. I’ll call Sebastian every night and every morning; I’ll send postcards like an old fashion lover; I’ll post pictures to all the social media websites. And I’ll try to convince you, Kurt, to get treated.”   
Kurt and Sebastian were saved from having to respond by their waitress arriving. The blonde waitress was chewing gum and staring down at her steno pad. “Welcome to the Dashing Diner, my name is- Seb, B! Where’s-“  
“Bianca, hi. We brought our friend Kurt. He’s a healthy eater,” Blaine interrupted after the tanned waitress looked up and noticed who was at the booth.   
“Actually, I’ve stopped my healthy eating. It didn’t help me stay healthy, so why continue? I’ll take a Diet Coke, only because it tastes better than real Coke, and do you have a fry and burger combo or basket? I’ll take one of those if you do please,” Kurt demanded. “Everything on it.”   
Bianca was stunned for a minute before she nodded, her pony tail swinging. “Do you two want your usual?” Sebastian and Blaine nodded in unison before Bianca walked away. The tree men sat in an awkward silence before Bianca returned to the table some five minutes later. She sat a red glass filled with Diet Coke in front of Kurt and turned to the married couple as she sat their drink choices before them. “Your food will be out shortly. Holler if you need anything before then.”   
“You two are going to drink shakes with your meals?” Kurt questioned, nodding to the chocolate shake in front of Blaine and the strawberry shake before Sebastian with a mixed look of curiosity and disgust.   
“It’s a tradition we started three years ago. They have fantastic shakes here,” Sebastian answered before plucking the cherry off the large pile of whipped cream and popping it in his mouth. Kurt was surprised when Sebastian just placed the cherry stem on the table top.  
“Not going to tie a knot with the stem and make some lewd comment about using your tongue Smythe?” Kurt questioned.  
“Some people mature. I’ve changed Hummel, although you make me want to go back to using my mouth to push people away and keep them from getting close to me,” Sebastian responded.  
“Can’t we just get along for dinner guys?” Blaine begged.  
“I’ll play nice babe, promise. I don’t want to fight the last night I get to be with you for a while. As long as Hummel doesn’t make a move on you during your trip and you call like you said, I’m okay if you go.”  
“Blaine’s _married_. Taken guys aren’t my thing, _Sebastian_. And I have a first name,” Kurt shrieked, his voice getting louder and higher at an alarming rate.   
“So, we have ‘one burger and fry combo’ all the way for you,” Bianca interrupted, a tray of food balanced on one hand. “A T L T A for Blaine with chardonnay vinaigrette on the side salad, a super burger for Sebastian, and an order of zipp zucc for the two lovebirds to share. I’ll be back to check on you in a bit. Enjoy.”  
“Zip what? A what? You two have the weirdest orders,” Kurt said, face scrunched up in confusion, earlier anger forgotten. The two across him laughed for a few moments.  
“I get a T L T A. A turkey, lettuce, tomato, avocado sandwich with non-fat mayo on wheat bread that’s all toasted. Seb and I share an order of Zipp Zucc which is breaded, fried zucchini wedges. And then Seb gets the super burger which is a double burger with Swiss cheese, and avocado on parmesan sourdough. And after we’re done with all this food, and our shakes, we’ll split a slice of apple pie. We come here a lot. We’ve tried everything on the menu between the two of us, but these are our favorites. Although, if we’re feeling particularly gluttonous, we’ll eat a double fudge brownie nut sundae. Everything is delicious here though,” Blaine explained. While he was explaining, Sebastian had been digging into his food, burger in one hand a piece of zucchini in the other.   
“That sounds… You like avocados don’t you? I’m just going to enjoy my burger,” Kurt responded, taking a delicate bite of his burger. Sebastian didn’t even look up from his plate of food, but thrust a zucchini wedge in front of Kurt. Kurt swallowed his bite of food before looking up at Sebastian with an eyebrow raised.  
“Try the Zipp Zucc Kurt. It’s delicious,” Sebastian requested, his mouth full of fries as he spoke. Blaine smacked him on the shoulder and muttered something about ‘manners’ and Sebastian swallowed. “It could be worse babe, I could have you take a bite of my avocado-y burger,” Sebastian joked.  
Blaine cringed at his husband’s habit to call people babe, expecting Kurt to explode. Instead, Kurt’s musical laughter sounded across the diner. He then leaned across the table and grabbed Sebastian’s hand holding his burger and pulled it towards his mouth. He took a huge bite out of Sebastian’s super burger, moaning around the food before releasing the Henley wearing male’s hand. Blaine and Sebastian’s mouths dropped at Kurt’s responding actions. “It is delicious.”  
After that, the trio finished eating, laughing and joking about old stories from their pasts. Once the food was gone and dessert had been eaten, they still sat at the diner booth wanting to spend more time in the laughing atmosphere of new and renewed friendships. Eventually, Bianca came up to their table and told them that the diner was open 24/7, but they probably should head out. Upon checking the time, the boys realized they had been sitting in the shared booth for five hours.  
“We have to go home, but we’ll see you in the morning so you can load Blaine up and get started on your trip, yes?” Sebastian questioned as the trip walked to their cars.   
“Yeah, of course. You two are sure of this? I honestly don’t have to have Blaine come with me,” Kurt responded. The married couple assured the glaze eyed man that it was no problem. Kurt sat in his car a few minutes after Sebastian and Blaine left before starting it and returning to the hotel.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The tense in the beginning of this chapter is messed up. Eventually I plan on going back and fixing it, but just be warned for now.

When Kurt woke up at 4:30 am wide awake, he realized he had no idea what time he should show up to the Anderson-Smythe (or was it Smythe-Anderson?) house. He laid in bed, thinking over how his trip will be changed now that Blaine will be with him. Then, after half an hour, he finally got up and showered. By the time he’s ready for the day, its 7:15. He debates on finding breakfast or just going over to Blaine’s house. He settles on stopping by the coffee shop Blaine showed him the day before and getting coffee and a muffin.   
Kurt pulled up to Blaine and Sebastian’s house at 8:30, having exhausted all the time he could at the coffee shop. He walked to the door and rang the doorbell confidentially. This was his trip, not Blaine’s and there would be early mornings. He better get used to it now or not go at all. The door was flung open and a small child with one arm in a jacket and the other sleeve dragging the floor was flying at Kurt. The little blonde girl hugged Kurt’s legs, squealing excitedly and taking so fast Kurt couldn’t understand most of what was being said.  
“Jasmine! You do not open doors to strangers! Come on now or you’ll be late for first grade. Finish putting your jacket on. I have your backpack. Hello Kurt. I’ll be back in twenty minutes. Blaine should be out here in a second. Jasmine! Don’t go towards the street!” Sebastian rushed, hurrying after the child. He finally got her in the car and drove off just as Blaine padded out onto the porch.  
“Sit on the swing and wait for Bas with me?” Blaine yawned. Kurt sat down, a puzzled look on his face. “She’s the neighbor’s kid. We help get her to school and watch her when her mom is working.”  
Kurt nodded and noticed Blaine was sans shoes again. “California has really changed your fashion style hasn’t it?”  
“I fell less of the need to be who I was back when I was in Ohio here. I’m laid back in Cali. I hit the beach most days at some point and work from home. Not a lot of pressure and a whole lot more comfort,” Blaine answered, stifling a few yawns as he spoke.   
“Why don’t we go inside – I don’t mean to be rude – but you seem tired. We could get some coffee in your system. Maybe way you up a bit,” Kurt suggested.  
“No,” Blaine rushed out. “C-coffee pot’s broken. We can grab coffee after I get loaded up once Seb’s back. Where are you planning to go after here anyways?”  
“Las Angeles to intentionally blow an audition in a non-obvious way; then Anaheim for a day in Disneyland,” Kurt answered.  
“You have blowing an audition on your bucket list?”  
“It wasn’t originally phrased that way. It was ‘audition for a movie’, but I don’t want the directors to cast me and then be unable to fill the roll.”  
“Thoughtfull. Do you know what you’ll audition for yet? Or are you sneaking into an audition too?”  
“I have it all taken care of. A friend of a friend back home knows somebody. I just told them I wanted to audition.”  
“Does anybody there know?” Blaine didn’t say the words, but Kurt knew exactly what he was referring to. Did anybody at home know that he had precious little time left to live.  
“No. I just… left. Broke my apartment lease, sold most of my stuff, and disappeared one night. I even deleted my email account. I have letters to be sent to all of them when… when I go. But other than those letters, I’ve settled everything. Bank accounts closed, everything.”  
“You didn’t want to tell Finn and Rachel in person?”  
“You didn’t hear the big media story about Rachel and my falling out right after she made it big? It was all over the news. TV, internet, magazines, everywhere you could look the story was there. It almost ruined her career. I haven’t talked to her or Finn since then,” Kurt explained, a blank look crossing his face as though he was trying to forget the incident.  
“Sorry. So, can I ask what you did with your life? I never saw your name in lights when I went to New York.”  
“I opened a bakery in Lima. I ran that and the tire shop for a long time. I signed the bakery over to the only original worker remaining. The shop was harder. I wanted it to stay how it’s always been, you know? So I got a hold of Puck, he works with cars now too, not just pools, and I asked if he would take over temporarily while I go on a road trip. He didn’t ask questions. He just agreed and took the reins. He’s who gave me your address too. I think… I think he knew something was wrong with me. He told me he would take care of the shop as long as I needed,” Kurt reminisced.  
“A bakery? Your cooking has always been delicious. Maybe we could find a place one weekend with a real kitchen and you could bake something for me,” Blaine commented. “What was it called?”  
“Pavarotti’s Pastry.” A look flashed in Blaine’s eyes and Kurt couldn’t quite tell what it was, but it looked suspiciously like longing. Blaine sat up straighter on the swing they were resting on and leaned towards Kurt with an extended arm.  
“Hey boys. Miss me?” Sebastian’s voice rang out, breaking the spell between the old lovers. Blaine blinked as though waking from a daze or a memory from long ago. He turned his head towards Sebastian lethargically. The standing man leaned down and pressed his lips against his husbands. The pressure and remembrance of _now_ , seemed to snap Blaine out what was remaining of his daze. He reached his arms up and practically pulled Sebastian on top of him.  
“Down Killer,” Sebastian panted after pulling back from the kiss against Blaine’s wishes. “If you keep going like that, I might not let you go. Anyways, I don’t think Kurt wants to see us make out, even if he is over you.”  
“Sorry,” Blaine mumbled, not looking away from his husband.  
“Go grab your bags, okay babe? I’ll keep Kurt company out here,” Sebastian instructed. Blaine nodded and stood, going towards the front door. Sebastian sat down in Blaine’s spot as the door to the house was shut.  
“Why can’t I go into your house?” Kurt questioned, not facing the meerkatish man. “Blaine made some silly see through excuse about a broken coffee pot when I suggested it earlier.   
“It’s a mess in there. We’re always busy and never get around to cleaning. I don’t even know the last time the dishes were done. It’s better you just stay out here babe,” the younger man answered. “I wanted to talk to you away from Blaine anyways.”  
“I told you, married men, taken men, aren’t my thing. You don’t have to worry.”  
“Charming, but that’s not what I wanted to talk about. I told Blaine last night he should give you space. He likes to fix everything, I’m sure you remember, and I know he was planning on spending the trip trying to get you to change your mind and get treatment. I let him know that he better not. You’ve thought about it and decided. Ultimately, it’s your decision. Nobody else’s. If you don’t want treatment, you don’t have to have treatment. That’s why people have choices. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion and decision. I let Blaine know he shouldn’t shove his opinion down your throat. I’m going to give you my phone number. If you get tired of Blaine, or just want to talk to someone about what’s happening who would have made the same choice as you, I’ll be here. Day or night, babe.”  
Blaine walked out the front door of the house then with two duffle bags, a pair of shoes, and a guitar case in his hands. Kurt silently handed Sebastian his phone, accepting the offer for the number, and went to open the trunk of his car after freeing Blaine of one of the duffle bags. The two ex-lovers loaded the trunk with the new items. Blaine kept glancing back at Sebastian who was still sitting on the front porch swing, looking deep in though. When Kurt slammed the trunk shut, Sebastian stood and walked over to the two soon to be travelers.   
“I’ll talk to you tonight B. Then tomorrow morning. I’ll see you again soon. We’ll find a way to video chat or something. I’ll miss you like crazy while you’re gone though,” Sebastian said, hugging the shorter boy. Still holding tight to his husband, he made eye contact with the ailing man holding the phone out like a peace offering. “Try not to fall too much in love with my Blaine while you two are traveling, okay?”  
Kurt nodded, pocketing his phone, watching as Blaine pulled away and wiped tears from Sebastian’s face. Blaine sniffled before diving in for a long goodbye kiss. When the two broke apart, Sebastian just turned and walked into his house, shutting the door without a word.  
“Come on; let’s go,” Blaine said, voice sounding dead, going around to the passenger door of the car.   
“You don’t ha-“  
“ _Let’s go_ ,” Blaine interrupted, tugging forcefully on the door handle before collapsing in the passenger seat. Kurt glanced at Blaine’s figure concerned prior to going to the driver’s side and climbing into the vehicle. He started the car in silence and pulled away from the Smythe-Anderson house, noting that Blaine didn’t glance back a single time.


	4. Chapter 4

Half an hour into the silent drive, Kurt had had enough. If Blaine was going to be pouty the whole time away from his husband, Kurt figured it would be worth the extra hour of driving to turn around and take him home. When Kurt turned to Blaine, he was greeted by the sight of Blaine slumped in the chair asleep. A smile found its way onto Kurt’s face when he glanced over again a second later and noticed Blaine’s mouth was opened and a thin line of drool was trailing down his chin. He reached his hand forwards and turned his stereo on, lowering the volume until it was barely audible. Kurt relaxed as the sounds of an orchestra playing classical music sounded through his car speakers.   
An hour later, Kurt pulled into a gas station to fill up his almost empty tank. Once the tank was full, he went inside to grab a coffee for himself and one for Blaine whenever he woke up. When he walked back out to his car, he saw a panicked Blaine seeming to be hyperventilating in the passenger seat trying to force the car door open. Kurt clicked the unlock button on his car remote and Blaine fell out of the vehicle when he flung the door opened. Kurt rushed the rest of the way up to the car and quickly sat the coffee on the car’s roof. He bent down and picked Blaine off the ground, hauling him upright. The raven haired man clung to his taller companion, panting like he had just run a marathon.  
“People are going to think I’m trying to kid nap you. What’s wrong?” Kurt questioned his voice gentle. He carded his fingers through the curls on top of Blaine’ head, hoping to calm him down.  
“I woke up disorientated, alone in a car. Couldn’t remember why I was here. Then I was locked in and the panic set in before I could really think,” Blaine explained once he had relaxed a great deal.  
“I’m so sorry Blaine. I lock my car by habit at gas stations. I didn’t figure you would wake up. I especially didn’t think you would wake up disorientated. Are you okay I bought terrible gas station coffee for us? We still have a little over two hours before we get to Las Angeles,” Kurt rambled, nervous Blaine would break down again.  
“I scrapped my palms and knees when I… Uh, when I fell out of your car. I’m going to go into the restroom here and clean out the cuts. See if I can stop the bleeding so I don’t get blood on your interior. That won’t help with the kidnapping theory others might develop,” Blaine winked, pulling away from Kurt’s embrace.   
“I’ll help. I’ll clean it. I’m why you’re scrapped up anyways,” Kurt said.  
“Kurt, I’m not six years old; I can clean my own wounds without supervision,” Blaine countered, walking into the restroom on the outside of the building, ending the conversation. Kurt grabbed the two cups of coffee off of the top of his car and leaned into the still opened passenger door to put them in cup holders. He returned into the convince store and grabbed a first aid kit, pausing to make sure it had what he needed in it. After purchasing the kid, he went outside the bathroom and started knocking persistently. “Just a moment!” He heard Blaine call.  
“It’s me, Blaine. I got a first aid kit so you can use some disinfectant. Who knows what was on that-“  
“Kurt… There was no need for you to buy an expensive convince store first aid kit. I’m not even bleeding. Why are you so nervous?” Blaine opened the bathroom door as he finished talking, stepping out into the sunlight.  
“You’re sure you’re okay?” Kurt ignored Blaine’s question.  
“Yep. I’m fine. Just a little scratch or two on my palms that didn’t even bleed. My knees might end up bruised from the fall, but it’s nothing bad. You should see if you can get your money back for the first aid kit.”   
“We needed one anyways, in case something does happen to either of us. We can stop buy a store once we get to Las Angeles and get some arnica for your bruises,” Kurt said, walking back to his car with Blaine trailing him. The two men loaded back into the car and Kurt started driving.  
A few sips into his convince store coffee, Blaine spoke. “Hey, Kurt, can we cross things off my bucket list too while we’re on this trip?”  
Kurt hummed around his mouthful of coffee. “I guess we could. What do you have in mind?”  
“Well, I’ve always wanted to go to Rhode Island,” Blaine was bouncing in his seat, excitement filling his small frame at the thought of getting to do the things he’s wanted to do for so long. “I want to eat food that each state is famous for, but if they aren’t famous for a food, I want to see something they’re famous for. And I want to drive up highway 101, which we’re on right now by the way. I want to go all the way up to Alaska to where it ends on it.”  
“Uh huh,” Kurt replied. He paused for a moment, gathering his words before he spoke again. “The famous food and sites thing we can easily do, as well as Rhode Island. I don’t think we can go all the way to Alaska on highway 101; I do have an expiration date. We can try to drive on highway 101 as much as possible however as far up to Washington State. Does that sound good to you?”  
Blaine nodded before reaching forward and turning the car stereo on, shocked at the light piano music coming from the speakers. “Classical? I never pegged you for a classical piano piece kind of guy. In fact, I believe you specifically told me you disliked classical pieces.”  
“Things change!” Kurt squeaked out, flushed. He reached forwards and ejected the CD; sliding it into a CD holder on his visor next to the orchestra CD he had been previously listening to. “I have satellite radio. You can find a top 40s channel or something if you want.”  
Blaine looked at Kurt questioningly, but Kurt’s attention was focused solely on the road. Blaine scrolled through the stations on the radio and found a station that played current hits. As the next song started playing, Blaine bounced in his seat, belting out the lyrics.  
“You’re like a small child,” Kurt said, not glancing away from the road. “If you get even a tiny bit excited, you’re bouncing everywhere. Maybe I shouldn’t have got you the coffee.”  
“No! No! Coffee’s good! I’m just excited Road trip with my best friend whom I just reunited with. We might not have parted on great terms when we last saw each other, but I’ve missed you as my best friend.”  
“You really do worry me sometimes. Do I need to stop at a park and let you run around and play like a dog?” Kurt joked, glancing at Blaine with a smile on his face.  
“I’d rather we continue driving to Las Angeles so I can get a decent cup of coffee. And maybe a shower. I’m not sure on that one yet.”  
“Do you really think we’ll be able to go back to being best friends like we were before…?” Kurt asked after a moment’s pause.  
“From joking to serious in 3.5 seconds… If by ‘before’ you mean before I cheated on you with a guy I met on the internet, no,” Blaine answered. When Kurt opened his mouth to speak, Blaine continued talking. “Hear me out before you go all crazy on me for tagging along on your trip if I don’t think we’ll be friends like before. I think we will be a different type of best friends. We’ll know now that we can make it through anything, even a failed relationship. We won’t have to deal with all the sexual tension that used to be between us. We’ve seen each other naked, so if that comes up, it won’t be awkward. We’ll be _better_ best friends.”  
The two sat in silence apart from the music playing in the background for a few miles. “So, you haven’t asked to see my bucket list yet,” Kurt said conversationally.  
“Nope. I’m not going to either. I want to be surprised every morning by what we do that day. Or surprised at every turn I guess. Surprised by every item! There we go. That’s what I was looking for. I don’t want to know about it until it’s what we’re fixing to do. Does that make sense?”  
“Yeah. Wait to tell you the new thing until we’ve finished the thing before. Got it. Well, if you want spoilers, the list is in a-“  
“Uh uh uh! Nope. Don’t want to know. No temptations for me thank you very much,” Blaine practically screamed, jamming his index fingers into his ears. Kurt was expecting Blaine to start saying ‘lalalala’ obnoxiously loud. It would fit in with the rest of his toddler-like behavior.  
“Okay, okay. I won’t tell you. Do you know how to navigate though?” Kurt questioned, smoothly changing the subject.   
“I’m a fair navigator, yes. My skills are rusty because Sebastian and I have a GPS, but I can do it, why?”  
“Do you see a map on a screen? I have a book of state maps in the back seat, but I’m planning on stopping at every state welcome center to get a better quality map. California’s map is in my glove box right now. This is a paper map navigated trip and you, sir, have just become my navigator. So, I’d reacquaint myself with navigating tonight at the hotel if I were you so we don’t get lost and I never let you live it down,” Kurt grinned. Blaine poked his tongue out when Kurt glanced at him, keeping up his toddler behavior.   
“How much longer is it until we get there?” Blaine asked. Kurt glanced at the clock and told Blaine that they had just under one hour left of their drive. Then it started. It wasn’t even a minute after Kurt had answered, and Blaine got a huge grin on his face. “Are we there yet?”  
After Blaine had been asking the obnoxious question over and over for ten minutes, Kurt gave Blaine his best glare. “Do I need to pull this car over?”  
“Maybe,” Blaine answered before laughing so hard that his abdominal muscles ached.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had problems writing this chapter and it's the shortest yet. Next chapter should be longer.

The two men pulled into a hotel on the outskirts of Las Angeles, hungry for food and full of laughter. Kurt let Blaine stay in the car while he went in and reserved their room, planning on asking for an idea on a place to eat nearby.  
“Can I get two single rooms for tonight please?” Kurt asked the receptionist. She tapped away on her computer for a few minutes before replying.   
“Unfortunately sir, we don’t have two adjacent single rooms available at this time. We do have double rooms available at a lowered rate this week. Would you be interested in a double occupancy room with double, queen, or king size beds?”  
“Double is fine,” Kurt sighed. He hadn’t talked to Blaine about separate rooms, so it shouldn’t be a problem to share a room. He just figured that since they were going to be spending a large amount of time together, they could use nights alone. He knew it wasn’t the receptionist’s fault that there were two no single occupancy rooms adjourning, but he was still short with her for the rest of their interaction.   
When Kurt got back out to the car with Blaine and his room keys, plus a parking pass, he finds Blaine blasting top 40s music as loud as the stereo will go, dancing in the car. Kurt just shakes his head, knowing that the behavior was expected if Blaine was an ounce of the person he was in high school. Kurt opened the driver side door and immediately leaned down and turned the stereo off. Blaine gave Kurt his best puppy dog eyes, but Kurt was long since immune. “I don’t understand how you can listen to music that loud in such a small space especially, and still retain your hearing.”  
“It’s like being at a concert!” Blaine exclaimed loudly. Kurt raised an eyebrow and gave him a pointed look. When Blaine continued talking, his voice was drastically quieter. “So, how did the room obtaining go? Do they have a pool? Did you find somewhere for us to eat at?”  
“Calm down. I don’t know where you get your energy, but if a company could bottle that, energy drinks would become obsolete. You should really consider yoga. Maybe then you would be able to sit still for more than just two seconds.”  
“Sometimes a lot of energy is good,” Blaine responded. “I’m starving though. Where are we going to eat?”  
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask her. When I asked for two single rooms there weren’t any adjacent, so she put us in a double, which is find. She rubbed me the wrong way though. She would have probably sent us to some place with terrible service anyway.”  
“Hold on, we’re sharing a room?” Blaine questioned. Kurt nodded. “That’s not… I figured we would sleep in separate rooms and take turns paying each night.”  
“I asked for two rooms originally. But I figured it wouldn’t be that big of a deal for us to share… Like you pointed out earlier, we’ve already seen each other naked. We won’t even be in the same bed. What’s wrong with sharing a room? It’ll save money for other things if we do it every day or so.”  
“I would prefer my own room. I can pay for it every night if that’s a problem, but I want my own room. They don’t have to be adjourning if they don’t have any.”  
“Sorry. I didn’t realize it would be a problem. I’ll go back in and tell her I need two single rooms instead of the double and it doesn’t matter where they’re located.”  
“It’ll be fine tonight, but from now on, please always let us stay in separate rooms,” Blaine replied, calmed down.   
“If you’re sure,” Kurt trailed. When Blaine didn’t protest, he continued. “I was thinking for food, we could pick a place out of the phone book to eat and call them for directions. They normally have complementary phone books in the drawer of the desk or the bedside table at places like this. How does that sound to you?”  
“That sounds great. I’m starving. And I’m sorry about my blowup a minute ago. I just do need a little privacy at nights and in the mornings.”  
Kurt agreed, saying that spending 24 hours a day together 7 days a week for the entirety of the trip would just be asking for disaster. The two went to their room and quickly found a place to eat in the phonebook and got directions. On their way to the small restaurant, Kurt drove past a stand on the side of the road with a hand painted sign proclaiming “Best fish tacos in Cali sold here”.  
“Kurt, Kurt, Kurt!” Blaine exclaimed, reaching over and grabbing the older man’s knee. The brown haired companion was thankful for the sparse traffic when the sudden shock of being grabbed and shouted at caused him to swerve the vehicle; if there were any more cars on the road he would have hit someone.   
“Don’t do that when I’m driving, B. Yelling and grabbing? That’s asking for an accident to happen. What did you want?”  
“Sorry,” Blaine said, properly chastised and removing his hand. “I was just going to say, if we’re going to do this state food thing, we need to start with fish tacos in California. We should turn around and pick some up from that stand back there and take them to our room.”  
“Fish tacos. That’s never sounded… appetizing to me. You were the one with that on your bucket list; I’m sure you’ve already had fish tacos from somewhere,” Kurt replied, every time he uttered the words ‘fish taco’ a little bit of disgust colored his tone.  
“I’ve had them several times actually. They’re delicious. But knowing now that you haven’t had them before? I’m insisting that we get fish tacos. I’ll pay and if you don’t like them, I’ll pay for room service.”  
“It seems so gross.”  
“It’s not. They’re not. They’re absolutely delicious.”  
“Well, we’re already a bit past the stand, so I guess it was just a nice idea.”  
“You aren’t going to be getting out of it that easily. I’m sure there’s another place around here that sells fish tacos for us to eat.” Blaine fiddled with his phone for a few moments before letting out an excited noise.  
“Let me guess, you’ve just looked it up and we’re close to another place?” Kurt asked, accepting that he would be eating fish tacos for lunch.  
“Yep. Something of that sort. It's just a mile up the road. And we can get them to go if we want to, but I think we should eat there. This is going to be so awesome!”  
“Kurt pulled into where Blaine motioned, wondering if his rekindled best friend had finally gone crazy. They were in front of a _house_. There were no signs in front of the place, no parking lot. Kurt pulled behind the one car parked in front of the building, but didn’t turn the car off. It didn’t matter because Blaine was unlocking the door and getting out. Kurt took a deep breath in, preparing to apologize to whoever owned the house when he saw the front door being opened. And there stood none other than former Warbler, Wes Montgomery.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I just say how amazing Darren's Listen Up tour was? I got to see him yesterday in Houston and I haven't been able to talk sense. (Also, this would have been posted yesterday if I wasn't so excited to go see Darren, it's been done since day before yesterday)

Kurt watched Blaine and Wes embrace as he got out of the car and walked towards the house.  
“Kurt Hummel. Is that you?” Wes called out when he pulled away from Blaine’s embrace. Kurt nodded, making his way to the base of the three steps leading to the porch of what appeared to be Wes’ house. He was pulled into a tight hug and then Wes slapped a hand on his back before pulling away. A man hug.  
“It’s been a while. I was just telling David that we needed to arrange a get together for all the Warblers so we could catch up. So many of us have lost touch with one another since we’ve graduated. It would be nice to get back together and sing like we used to,” Wes said.  
“You seem different. More laid back,” Kurt observed. The man had grown his black hair from the short style it was in school to a shoulder length shaggy style. The Asian had already been slightly tanned, but it appeared he spent a great deal of time in the sun in his deep tan was proof of anything. When in school, Wes had always worn either his uniform or a button up, collared dress shirt and slacks, yet he was standing in front of Kurt with loose fitting cargo pants and a polo on.   
“David and California helped me loosen up. Speaking of David, he’s pulling up now,” Wes commented. Kurt turned to face the driveway and saw a moped being ridden directly towards him. He made a high pitched squeak and jumped out of the way. The moped stopped and the rider got off, pulling his helmet off of his head. The African American still had the same close cut hair style as he did in high school and the same large bright grin.   
“Kurt, my man, how have you been?” David set his helmet on the seat and bent down slightly to embrace the man quickly. “Blaine. Nice to see you. I wasn’t expecting it, but it’s still nice. To what do we owe the pleasure?”  
While he was talking, David had hugged Blaine and then went to the trunk of his moped and got a paper bag out. Wes, David, and Blaine headed into the house while Kurt stayed standing near the moped with one thousand and one questions running through his head. A moment later, Blaine stuck his head back out the door. “Coming?”  
Kurt walked inside and asked Blaine if they were at Wes or David’s house. Blaine laughed and said “both”. Kurt looked at him, confused, until Blaine continued. “Wes and David live together. They tell everybody they’re straight and just friends, but they haven’t even gone to a club since they graduated college, much less dated anyone.”  
“Okay. And what are we doing here? What happened to having fish tacos?”  
“Wes and David have fish tacos every Friday for lunch. It’s Friday and David just showed up with fish. Come on. Let’s go visit out back on their deck while Wes grills the fish.”  
“Grills the fish? Isn’t the fish ground and fried?” Kurt questions his nose wrinkled. Blaine started laughing so hard, he doubled over, clutching his stomach.   
“You- you thought the fish was _ground_ ,” he laughed. Kurt blushed red, embarrassed. “No babe. The fish is grilled and then broken into chunks. It’s served on a corn tortilla with coleslaw. No wonder why you thought fish tacos would be gross. Ground fish…”  
“Are you two going to come eat or what?” David called out. “Grab the salsa from the fridge if you decide to grace us with you presence.”  
Blaine grabbed Kurt’s hand and pulled him through the house. They paused in the kitchen and got the requested salsa before going onto the deck as Wes flipped the fish on the grill. “There are just a couple of minutes left and then it’ll all be done.”   
Kurt took in the small back yard. The deck held a bar-b-q grill, a smoker, a fire pit, and a picnic table with everything just far enough apart it could feel somewhat spacious. There was maybe five feet of grass on the sides of the deck before wooden privacy fences shot up.  
“So, what have you been doing since you graduated?” Wes asked as he took the fish off of the frill. “What brings you to California?”  
“I opened a bakery and ran that for a while. I signed ownership of it over to the only original employ left and now I’m on a road trip. I wanted to amend things with Blaine, I didn’t like how I left everything last time he and I spoke, I’m sure he’s told the two of you about that, so I decided to visit him while I was traveling and now he’s tagging along with me. What about the two of you I always thought you would have become a lawyer Wes. I never could figure out what you would probably do David.”  
“Well, you should have guessed record label. Here’s your taco. Wes and I started our own record label. We do really well with it. When the bigger labels want to take our singers, we’ll let them go if they want. We just demand a finder’s fee basically. And some of them have made it big,” David explained.   
“Take a bite of the taco Kurt. Come on. It’s delicious. I promise. If not, we’ll raid Wes and David’s kitchen and get you something else to eat. Please?” Blaine begged, puppy dog eyes out in full force.   
“Oh fine,” Kurt sighed. He takes a bite of the dreaded fish taco and his eyes widen as he chews and swallows it. “This is _delicious_. It’s so different from what I thought it would taste. Wow. I’m sorry I ever doubted anyone who told me how wonderful fish tacos were.”  
The four old friends talked and ate until the food was gone. Then they kept talking anyways. A few hours after Kurt and Blaine arrived, Wes offered everyone a beer.   
“No thanks. I can’t have alcohol because of my medicine,” Kurt replied. Blaine shot him a look of confusion and Kurt knew the cat was fixing to be let out of the bag.  
“I thought you decided against tr- medicine?” Blaine asked obviously trying to not let Wes or David know something was wrong with Kurt, but not doing a very good job.   
“Medicine for what?” David asked.   
Wes lightly smacked his hand against the back of David’s head. “Dave, if he wanted us to know he would have told us in the last few hours. That was rude.”  
“It was fine Wes, David. I guess I can tell you. I trust the two of you not to say anything to anyone else. Not until after at least. You would be curious anyways why I couldn’t attend the Warbler get together you mentioned planning.” Kurt took a deep breath, closing his eyes before rushing out “I have cancer.”  
“What?” Wes and David shouted out together.  
“What kind? What stage? Has it spread? How long-“Wes was firing off questions without taking a breath.  
“One question at a time,” Kurt interrupted. “To answer Blaine’s question, no, I am not undergoing chemotherapy or radiation treatment. I do however take antidepressants to help keep me happier when I know my time line is ending soon.”  
“What kind of cancer is it?” Wes asked. David had sat back down at the picnic table, the beers Wes had offered forgotten.  
“Kidney cancer. I’m not going to get too specific, but it’s called group three transitional cell cancer. Basically, that means I have large tumors that have gone through the wall of my pelvis.”  
“What’s the survival rate?” Blaine choked out, tears rolling down his cheeks.   
“The five year rate for survival is twenty percent if you’re optimist, but it’s more like ten percent if you’re honest. And that’s if you undergo treatment.”  
“That’s terrible. What are the treatment options?” David questioned, mouth hung open in shock at the facts.   
“A nephroureterectomy and chemotherapy. A nephroureterectomy is where they remove your kidneys and your ureter. You have to have dialysis until you get lucky enough to get a transplant. Group three doesn’t normally get chosen for transplants though because there’s a large chance the cancer has spread further than just the area they removed. I’m not getting treatment though.”  
“How… You don’t have to answer this, but how long do you have? Without treatment” Wes asked after a long pause.  
“When I went to the doctor a week ago, he said I had less than 3 months left to live.”


	7. Chapter 7

Wes and David both started talking at the same time, stating their outrage at Kurt’s situation and short amount of time he had left. Blaine on the other hand was silent. After a moment of sitting in shock, Blaine got up from the picnic table and walked into the house, away from everyone. Kurt got up to go after him when Wes stopped him.  
“Leave him be. He needs a bit of time to adjust. I’m assuming you hadn’t told him just how little time he had with you. No offense, but if he had wanted you around him, he wouldn’t have walked away,” Wes rationalized. Silence descended on the three remaining men.   
“Screw this,” David said before grabbing Wes by the collar of his shirt and pulling him close. He whispered, but Kurt still heard “I love you Wesley” before David crashed their lips together. Wes leaned into the kiss for a few seconds before pulling away.  
“Wh- David. I don’t…” Wes sputtered. It was the first time Kurt had seen Wes at a complete loss for words.  
“I’m sorry, but Kurt is proof that we aren’t going to live forever. I’m tired of just kissing and doing stuff when you’ve had enough beers to claim the next day you were just drunk. I love you. Even when I’m not drinking,” David confessed. Kurt felt like he was intruding on a very personal moment between the two men. He stood and carefully made his way into the house. Wes and David never glancing away from one another’s eyes. Kurt gently closed the door behind him, hoping he would be able to find his way to Blaine in the unfamiliar house.  
Kurt heard sniffling and a shuddering deep breath as he stepped out of the kitchen into the main part of the house. He followed the noises and stepped outside a closed door. Kurt pressed his ear against the dear and the sniffling was louder. Turning the door knob slowly, he pushed the door open and found Blaine crying on a bed. The younger boy didn’t look up from where he was hugging a pillow to his chest even when Kurt sat down next to him. Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine, pulling him into a hug, and Blaine still didn’t move. The ailing man could feel the shorter man’s entire body shaking. “Let it out honey.”  
Blaine took a shuddering, gasping breath before his snuffles turned into sobs. Kurt hugged him tighter before Blaine turned in his arms, dropping the pillow, and folded himself against the elder’s body. Kurt rubbed the boy’s back, because he will always be the dapper uniformed boy he was when they met to Kurt, whispering ‘shh’s and ‘it’s going to be okay’s in his ear. Blaine got his breathing back under control and the tears slowed twenty minutes later, but he didn’t move from where he was clinging to Kurt. A few minutes later, Kurt felt Blaine relax in his arms and knew he was asleep.  
Half an hour or so later, Wes pushed open the door to the room and quietly walked inside. “He looks terrible.”  
“He cried himself out. He’s uh… he’s devastated. I think he thought there was more time left,” Kurt whispered, looking down at the boy in his arms.  
“The world should have longer with the great Kurt Hummel,” Wes said quietly. “So, why a road trip for your last bit of time?”  
“I’ve always had a bucket list and now I’m crossing everything off of it I can. It should take me two months to do everything, including travel time. I have most everything planned out.”  
“What happens when you get sicker? I looked it up before I came in here. What happens when you are so tired you can’t get out of bed? When you start coughing up blood? When your bones hut?” David questioned from the doorway.  
“That’s why my trip only lasts two months, not three. I had to get rid of a lot of things on my bucket list to make it work. To answer your questions, I’ll get out of bed anyways until the day I’m too weak to stand. I’ll carry a handkerchief and try to be discreet when I cough. You know me David. I don’t go down without a fight. I’m going to make it though my trip. My bucket list is going to be all crossed off by the time I kick the bucket,” Kurt explained. He heard sniffling again and looked down to see Blaine had woken up. Blaine tightened his grip against Kurt and buried his face. “Come on B. Wake up, okay I don’t think Wes and David want us sleeping in their house in the mid afternoon. We need to get some supper and then go back to our hotel room soon anyways. Unless you want to see if you can come back here after supper and sleep on their couch or something since we don’t have separate rooms?”  
“No!” Blaine pulled his head away from Kurt, panicked. “No! No! We can share. It’s fine. I’m kind of happy we are not that I… I know.”  
“Come on B. Let’s get up and make the bed and visit for just a few more minutes. Then we can go get food. The fish tacos were delicious, but I’m hungry again,” Kurt coaxed, managing to get Blaine standing. The younger boy seemed to notice the other occupants in the room as he rubbed the sleep and dried tears from his eyes.  
“Come on David; let’s wait for them in the living room,” Wes said, grabbing David’s arm and pulling him from the room, closing the door behind him.  
“Hi B.You had sort of a rough one. How are you feeling now though?” Kurt asked, noticing Blaine wouldn’t let go of his hand even as he started trying to make the bed. After a minute, Kurt gave up on the bed making and sat down at the foot of the bed, pulling Blaine with him. He angled his body towards the man he once called a lover and saw the far away gaze in his eyes. “Talk to me B.”  
“I didn’t realize. Three months… Less than really! That’s not enough time Kurt. I need more time,” Blaine cried out, frantic. Kurt put a hand on Blaine’s leg and hummed a song until he was calmed down. “I don’t know what I’ll do in a world without you so near to when I just got you back. It scares me Kurt. It’s been a day since you came back into my life after over a decade of being out of it and I have less than three months with you. Three months to catch up with you and make up for years apart.”  
“I think those years are forever gone B. I’m sorry. I wish it didn’t take me being told I was about to die to get me to realize that I needed to tell you I forgive you and for us to become friends again. I wish I had gotten you back in my life a long time ago. But I was too busy forgiving and not forgetting to be able to hang around with my best friend,” Kurt lamented.  
“I want to go back in time. Can we build a time machine and get our lost time back? Please? Three months is not enough time.”  
“I know B. I know. I want the time back too. I feel like I’m being cheated out of so much. But I’ve come to terms. No matter if I’m happy or sad, I’m still going to be a lifeless corpse in twelve weeks. So, I’m choosing to be happy, to go do things I have always wanted to. I have decided to enjoy my last bit of time. I would like if you were happy and enjoying the trip too,” Kurt said, pulling Blaine closer and pressing his face to Blaine’s shoulder. “I want to die happy.”  
“Okay,” Blaine said, wrapping his arms around Kurt’s lithe frame and pulling him close and tight. “We’ll be the happiest people in the whole wide world for the rest of—the trip. We’re going to be so happy; people will think we’re on our honeymoon.”  
“I said happy Blaine, not affectionate,” Kurt replied, but Blaine had succeeded in his new mission, Kurt was giggling.   
The two got up off the bed a few minutes later. Kurt tried to get Blaine to help him make the bed, but the younger companion insisted the elder could ‘do the job much better’. Kurt knew Blaine was perfectly capable of helping him make the bed, but his antics were much too amusing to put a stop to. Once the bed was made, the two made sure everything was right in the room and went out to visit just a little more with Wes and David.   
“Where are you planning on going on your road trip?” David asked when everyone was comfortably seated.   
“Well, Blaine wants to be surprised by where we go, but an idea of what he’s getting himself into might be nice,” Kurt said. “A lot of the specific places I want to go to are parks and monument type things. The specific things I want to do tend to be extreme sports and what-have-you.”  
“Parks and monuments?” Wes questioned, sounding surprised. “Why?”  
“I want to see things and places that are famous. Stuff that’s still around years after the person it’s honoring died or things all most all Americans know the name of. I want to see what it takes to be known hundreds of years after you’re gone.”  
“You want to go to national parks? Because there’s-“ Blaine started, only to be interrupted.  
“Joshua Tree National Forest. Yep. Thanks for the idea, but I already have that one checked off. I stopped by there on my way into California and to your house Blaine.”  
“So you started the trip without me?” Blaine joked, scooting closer to Kurt and slinging an arm around his shoulders.   
“Started it without you? Kurt laughed. “You hijacked my trip and invited yourself. I had no idea this trip would include a companion for me until you insisted you come along.”  
“You two seem to be in a better mood,” David commented. Wes elbowed him in the ribs from where he was sitting, pressed leg to leg with David on the loveseat. “It’s true. Last time I saw them, Blainers was having a melt down and Kurt was insisting on making the bed and going to a hotel.”  
“Blaine and I in a better mood? Let’s talk about you and Wes. The two of you are sitting awfully close for being just friends,” Kurt commented. Both Wes and David blushed and hurried to move apart from each other.  
“Stay sitting close to each other you dorks. Kurt wasn’t saying it in a bad way. He was just told by someone that you tow were just friends, but everyone is convinced you’re dating. I have no idea who told him,” Blaine said, the last part very sarcastically.  
“We were just friends,” Wes started.  
“With alcohol educed benefits,” David interrupted. “I’ve been in love with Wes since school, but unless he’s drunk, he wants no other type of relationship with anybody besides friendship.”  
“Long story short,” Wes took over again. “Finding out Kurt has cancer and very little chance to live past these next few months got David to be brave enough to tell me how he feels so I no longer can use alcohol as a mask for me feelings. David and I are going to try dating, in public, with no alcoholic beverages allowed.”  
“Well, I’m glad my diagnosis helped the two of you realize you don’t have forever. It helped me realize that,” Kurt said, not sounding as happy towards the end. “Come on Blaine. Let’s say our goodbyes and go get some food.”  
“One thing first,” David said. “Wes and I talked about it and we want to give you two a little money to help your trip be better. Kurt, you no longer have a source of income, and Blaine, you will never tell us what you do. We want to give the two of you a monetary gift.”  
“That’s really sweet David, Wes, but I don’t need it. I may be unemployed now, but I did run two very successful businesses and I got left quite a bit of money when my dad passed on. I’m more than set for the trip. I’ll probably have money left over, besides what I have set aside for my funeral. Actually, I should have money left over according to my calculations. I don’t have kids, so all my money is going to charity. I decided why not spend it when I was debating on taking this trip or not.   
“I don’t need the money either,” Blaine responded. “I… I’m the author of a series of well know books under a pen name. No, I will not tell you more than that. I was planning on writing at night and it’s my vacation time from writing anyways. I’m set well off, especially with the trust funds my parents set up for me. I can easily afford this trip. Sebastian words too, so it’s not like I’ll be leaving my family without an income while I’m out traveling. I don’t need the gift, but thank you for offering it.”  
“Let us at least give you money for dinner tonight. The two of you could go have a really nice, fantastic meal and forget about everything that’s going on right now with Kurt. Let us give you some money or something,” Wes commanded, pulling his wallet out from his back pocket as he spoke. Kurt and Blaine exchanged a look before nodding. “Great. I’m taking the nod as a yes. Here’s two hundred dollars. No arguing over the amount. Go have a fantastic steak dinner on us. Consider it to be our thanks for causing us to get together sober romantically. We insist. Now, let us walk you out.”


End file.
